Encounter with the figure

Oh my God, Max thought, deliriously happy. Miley is going to kiss me all night.

She had her arms twined around him and they were making out like crazy. He kept pressing his forefinger and thumb together to check his nails —no vamp signs so far—so he kept going for it. He kept telling himself that in a couple of more seconds—or minutes—or maybe hours—he would suggest they go back to the car. There were a lot more things they could do in a car. But they could also leave in a car, and he was afraid he'd break the spell if he said a word.

And her kisses were so awesome. For someone who had never had a boyfriend before, she sure knew how to kiss.

She broke contact—no, he silently protested—and smiled at him. Then her eyes went wide as she gazed somewhere past him. He felt her stiffen.

"Max," she whispered. "Behind you."

He cursed himself for being six kinds of stupid, taking a risk like this. In the instant before he turned around he realized that the sun was going down; the shadows of the trees had lengthened and darkness brought with it a lot of secrets, and more danger.

He tried to sniff the air as he pivoted around, preparing himself for action against whatever threat presented itself. And what he smelled was a familiar scent.

A . . . Figure.

It was the same one that he had faced that morning. It was beautiful, standing slightly above them on a boulder. As with their dawn encounter, the figure was bathed in light, the silver clothing catching the slanting afternoon sun. It gazed at the two of them calmly, with no hint of aggression.

"Oh," Miley whispered. "It's . . . beautiful."

"You can't say," Max said in a low voice. "Don't move."

She nodded breathlessly. He tested his fingernails again. His vampire was staying inside.

So far.

"Can you get to your phone?" he asked her quietly. His first instinct was

for her to summon help. Dial 911. But what could anyone do if the figure attacked right this second? They had hiked in at least a mile, deep into the tangled trees of the preserve, where no emergency vehicles could possibly reach.

The figure tilted its head and gazed at each of them in turn, Miley first. It locked gazes with Max, holding, as if trying to tell him something.

Miley's fingers tightened around Max's. He squeezed back.

Then, just as it had done that morning, the figure turned its back and ambled down the boulder. It disappeared among the trees. As if by mutual agreement, Max and Miley didn't move a muscle. Miley could barely breathe.

After a minute or two, Miley relaxed. She wrapped both her hands around one of Max's.

"That was . . ." she began.

"Intense," he finished.

"I've never seen anything more amazing in my life." She blew out a breath and looked at him, almost as if she'd never seen him before. "I can't believe I got to experience that."

"Got to . . ." He trailed off, surprised by her choice of words. His legs were rubbery. What would he have done if the figure had attacked Miley?

I didn't think it would attack me, he realized. I think it knew.

Knew what I am.

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "When my dad shot the superhuman, I told myself I should be happy about it. I mean, it had killed all those people. But it was"—she looked for words—"innocent. In its way. I mean, here we are, in their territory. And we build our houses, and drive our cars."

She moved her shoulders, a little embarrassed. "Right about now, my aunt would ask me if I am planning to give PETA a donation. I mean, we sell hunting rifles, too. We're not what you might call tree huggers."

Max moved her hair away from her forehead. "The Figure," he said. "You, you thought it was . . . beautiful?"

She nodded. "All that silver clothing, or coverings, or whatever you call it. And those sleek muscles underneath its pelt. Didn't see its eyes, Max. But it looked . . . wise."

She made a face. "Okay, now I'm romanticizing it. Let's say it was really cool to see a wild thing up close like that, and leave it at that."

She couldn't know how much her reaction meant to him. Ryan's sister, Kate, had looked like a vampire in death. Maybe eventually he would look like that. And if Miley saw him, she would think he looked beautiful.

And not like the monster he changed into now.

"We should go," he said.

"We haven't looked for Leo at all," she said, looking guilty. "Let me call Amelia." She pulled her phone out of her pocket. "Uh-oh. My reception is bad here. If my parents call her house, she won't be able to patch me in."

Suddenly he smelled smoke—the tangy odor of wood smoke, forest smoke. It was faint, not the firestorm of his dream. People were allowed to have fires in the preserve. Maybe Leo had built it for warmth.

He glanced down at the WMP map. He couldn't tell if the fire was near Leo. Maybe Ryan would be able to trace it, but Max didn't know enough about tracking using his vampire senses, at least while he was in human form.

Little fires can become big ones, he thought, a thrill of panic skittering up his spine as once again he thought about his dream. Flames, all around him.

Then the Alpha. And then, in real life, the vampire.

Then his phone rang. It was Levi.

"Levi," he said, so Miley would know who it was. "What's up?"

....

"My new best friend and I are at the hospital," Levi said, twirling the listening end of a stethoscope in a little circle. So far, he had been unable to hypnotize Ryan with it. Nice vampire, watch the watch... Maybe you needed a real watch to hypnotize people. Or a real person.